Wasteland

Dominik Graf, now a leading filmmaker, revisits his late father Robert Graf’s acting career (1956–1966), during which Robert appeared in 20 features and 25 TV dramas by directors like Hoffmann, Staudte, Siodmak, Sturges, and Comencini. Through archival clips and personal reflections, Dominik “meets” his father and confronts the West German society and film industry of that era, where scripted narratives often outweighed real life.

Filmmaker and author Helke Sander is an icon not only of the women's movement, but also of new German cinema. Historical upheavals sometimes only need a small impulse to suddenly set petrified conditions in motion. Helke Sander triggered such a landslide-like change in Germany many years ago.

Based on a well-known Turkish novel, Dilan narrates the story of a peasant woman who decides to avenge the murder of her lover. In a remote village in Southeastern Turkey, two men are in love with beautiful Dilan: the rich Paso and the poor but brave Mirkan. When Dilan chooses Mirkan, Paso has the youth killed by one of his men. Dilan marries Paso, but she murders him on their wedding night and runs away to the mountains. A tragic love story as well as a realistic portrait of the existence of the rural people of Anatolia, Dilan was shown at several international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

From birth to death every subject remains intact. Three ages, three women. Daughter, mother, grandmother. Each of them before and after still and always. And the men too, those they meet those they love.

A young Turkish man who grew up and lives in Germany is lured back to his home village in eastern Anatolia. There, he is expected to fulfill a marriage promise that his family made years ago without his knowledge, leading to tragedy.

After a period of separation, Sarah visits her research scientist mother on a remote New Zealand island. Before long Sarah becomes inextricably involved in events involving both Maori legend and an Albatross.

Farewell Pavel takes place in two cities. In Rotterdam, we follow Russian reporter Alexei Petrov. He stays in a shabby hotel while investigating Russian ships that have been chained up and writes an article about trafficking in women. His contact with a Russian prostitute gets him into trouble when he tries to arrange a fake passport for her. While Alexei becomes entangled in a criminal web in the West, Alexei's 14-year-old son Pavel longs for his father in St. Petersburg and takes his first steps on the path of love. The events in both cities run almost parallel, but are told from different time perspectives. Over time, a shift occurs. For Pavel, who is on his way to adulthood, time passes more and more quickly, while for Alexei, who feels increasingly threatened, time seems to stand still.

A tableaux of poetry and images exploring the historical trauma, identity, and collective memory of the Armenian people centered on an Armenian filmmaker exiled in Berlin.

The film is dedicated to the Armenian monk and genius composer Komitas, and the 2 million victims on his people in Turkey in 1915. The final 20 years of Komitas life were spent in various mental hospitals. The destiny of Komitas? This is the magic beauty of Armenian culture and the abhorrent brutality of Armenian history. A cultural and artistic world that was slaughtered with a curved knife. A humanity that doggedly advances towards an apocalyptic catastrophe, that does not recognize its own original purpose, eradicates its own memory, its final roots.

When an ordinary-looking man tries to buy a mirror in an upscale shop, class conflicts arise. The third part of the short film series.

Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of their country.

A woman threatens to jump off a crane with her two young children in order to secure affordable housing.

Unsuccessful Luxembourg bank robber Johnny Chicago is released from prison and immediately and incompetently attempts to resume his life of crime. In a few days he manages to get his old partner fired and thrown out of the house, his girlfriend arrested and jailed, all the while scheming to rob a bunch of German pensioners, stop a train and make some quick money to make a name for himself.

Five more-or-less distinct sections, all featuring "Freak" Orlando, a woman played by the late Magdalena Montezuma, who appears in various guises and deformities throughout.

When Johanna's blind grandmother Ruth tells her the secret about their Jewish past, the “sleeping dogs” of the family history awake.

Hans Hummel abandons a South Sea paradise and returns to his old homeland to trace his deceased father's path in life. His father has not only bequeathed him a large house and valuable documents, but also a type of treasure map in the form of a computer with the corresponding program. While he is involved in this treasure hunt game, he meets up with seven women - the family in the neighbouring house, who support him both in a business as well as in a personal sense. But instead of delighting in his new found wealth, he trades money, gold and millions for happiness - just like in a fairy tale.